Wofford mourns mascot

2008-10-10

The official Wofford terrier mascot, "Blitz," passed away on Thursday, October 9 during surgery to remove an abdominal mass that was discovered this week. "Blitz" was 9 years old.

Her real name was Katie. "Blitz" was a stage name used while she was on duty at Wofford events. Katie was a pure bred boston terrier owned by Chris and Jean Williams of Spartanburg. She began as the official terrier mascot on September 6, 2003 in a win over South Carolina State. She did not miss a home game in the last six seasons with her last game coming ironically on September 6, 2008 - a victory over Charleston Southern.

At the conclusion of her fourth season as the mascot (2006), she was awarded an honorary varsity letter by the Athletic Department (see photo). In another bit of irony, that was in a victory over Chattanooga - the Terriers Homecoming opponent this Saturday. In all, the Terrier football team had a 30-10 record in games where she roamed the sidelines.

Katie did not attend every road game over the years, but did travel to The Citadel, Furman, Western Carolina, North Carolina State, South Carolina and even Delaware for the 2003 I-AA semifinal game.

Katie also visited with Spartanburg area elementary school children in January 2007 as part of the "Tour of the Terrier" a project of the Wofford Sports Marketing Interim class that year.

"Ayeryel" - the boston terrier of Adam and Heather Regenthal of Columbia - substituted for the South Carolina game this season for reasons that had nothing to do with Katie's health. For the remainder of the 2008 season, Ayeryel (named for head football coach Mike Ayers) will hold the mascot duties until a permanent replacement is named.